Manifestations
by Sophia Lore
Summary: Ever wonder why magical folk aren't the rulers of kingdoms when they possess so much more power than regular citizens? In this tale, the truth behind Enchancia's oldest traditions and beliefs come to light as Sofia inadvertently invokes an old law that leaves her family secretly scrambling to cover it up... before it's too late. Slightly AU Enchancia. Eventual Cedfia
1. The Orden-Scale

**Author's Note:**

Hello! To those of you who have favorited or followed the initial workings of this story, I thank you very much. I will admit to not having a concrete plan as to where my story was headed at the time however, and have been working on it and playing with the idea since then.

My original concept has now been fleshed out, and I look forward to sharing this tale with you. This story is un-Beta'd at this time, so please excuse any little mistakes that I might have missed here and there, and please feel free to point them out.

This story, while taking place in the Disney universe of Enchancia and fellow kingdoms, is heavily AU in the fact that I've fleshed out the world a bit differently than they have in the show.

I have altered the rating to this work to be Teen instead of Mature, so readers who would like to read the eventual alternate mature chapters can go to AO3 and look up this fic under the same title and author penname.

I hope you enjoy, I will try updating about once a week.

Thanks again!

Sofia clenched her small fists even harder around the silken top-fabric of her gown, nervousness fed by her step-father's behaviour. King Roland had barely spoken a word to her since he came quietly to collect her from her room not fifteen minutes earlier, requesting that she dress herself again. She was filled with confusion, and a deep certainty that something was wrong. Ever since her father's bizarre reaction to her excitement this afternoon, the feeling had started deep in the pit of her stomach, and persisted to needle her. In a way, she was fairly glad that something was happening to confirm her suspicions. There was nothing worse than waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Father... you're scaring me," she confessed quietly, looking up at him again as they walked softly down the nearly deserted corridors of the palace.

He glanced down at her briefly as he responded "You'll understand soon dearest".

His voice, though pitched lowly, still carried down the elegant hall they traversed.

Sensing that she would not be getting any additional answers, even should she pry further, silence reigned once more. Soon enough, the rout they were taking began to make a little more sense. Only once they took a left turn down an overly familiar corridor did she become certain of their final destination. A small sense of comfort came over her, as she knew that the friend they were going to visit would be able to help them sort out whatever problem was evidently taking place at the moment.

After what seemed like ages to Sofia, they arrived at the large oak door, flanked on both sides by two imposing stone gargoyles. Rather than mention the location of the key she knew to be hidden close by, she simply observed the king take a small breath before resolving to bang the large knocker twice in quick succession. For a spell, all was quiet within, until they both heard some muffled cawing followed by a few equally muffled sounds of protest. A minute or so later, the door was swiftly yanked open by one disheveled and groggy court sorcerer. In his nightclothes.

"What in the blazes do you want?" he demanded gruffly, before his expression morphed into one of quiet horror as it finally registered just who, exactly, he was speaking to in that tone.

Before Roland could even begin to reply, Cedric was already babbling a nearly incomprehensible stream of apologies in the wake of his mishap. Roland put up a firm hand in response, to halt the sorcerer's garbled speech. From previous experiences, he knew that trying to interrupt verbally at this point would be useless.

Eventually, Cedric seemed to realize that the two were staring at him in complete silence, and so halted his lengthy act of contrition. Roland stared at him a moment more to ascertain that no other words were forthcoming, and then began.

"Good evening Cedric. I apologize for disturbing you at this hour, but I would not do so if I didn't deem it to be absolutely necessary. May we enter?"

Cedric glanced briefly towards Sofia as the king spoke, and was alarmed to see his usually chipper pupil looking so sombre. Cedric, feeling a little off-kilter from the unusual quality of the visit, stood mutely in the door, staring at them both. This prompted a subtle eye-roll on Roland's part as he cleared his throat with thinly veiled impatience.

"There are things we must discuss that are of a highly_ sensitive_ nature" hinted the monarch.

"Oh, of course your highness, do come in" Cedric startled, jumping out of his daze and lowering into a slight bow as he ushered the two royals inside.

Once safely ensconced within and away from prying eyes, Roland did a small turn about the room, the movement teeming with a nervous energy. His eyes quickly took in their surroundings before turning abruptly to their mystified host.

"I'm assuming you were taught how to perform an assessment of the Orenda-Scale on an individual at the academy?"

"I… yes… yes I was, your highness, but I fail to see why…"

Roland cut the flabbergasted man off mid-affirmation. "Then I need you to perform the spell on Sofia, right this minute. I have to see the result". The king had a distressed gleam in his eye as he conveyed the last part of his request.

Sofia's bad feeling multiplied tenfold as she watched the two adults she trusted, act in such a peculiar fashion. Well, Cedric wasn't too far off the usual mark where the king was involved, but her stepfather himself was looking more distressed than she'd ever seen him to this day.

She glanced over at Wormwood during the confusing exchange, hoping the bird would comment and perhaps offer insight into the situation. Unfortunately for her, Cedric's avian companion seemed as perplexed as she was feeling. She stood to attention mutely off to the side until their collective scrutiny was redirected to her rather suddenly.

Cedric gave her a curious, yet apprehensive look as he told her to back away a few paces so that he could prepare the site for the spell.

"Now Sofia, when I tell you to, step into the rune I will have cast onto the floor. Don't step out until I say so" the sorcerer directed briskly.

Sofia dutifully backed away until she could feel the ridge of the work tabletop pressing into her upper back. With large eyes she watched as Cedric summoned his wand to his outstretched hand, a nifty trick he enjoyed displaying to others, and started to mumble a few words in a low voice. Wand pointed to the ground a few feet in front of her, he rotated his wrist three times in a tight circle and finished off with an intricate movement of his hand.

Slowly, like a trickle of honey, a golden strand leaked out of the wizard's wand-tip and slid onto the floor, the glow lengthening until a perfect circle of light was resting delicately about a half an inch above the cold cobblestone floor of the tower.

Roland's expression grew even more anxious from where he stood a little behind Cedric, brow furrowed tightly as he knew he was seconds away from finding out just how much trouble they were going to be in.

With a nod from her magical mentor, Sofia hesitantly inched towards the incandescent spell, until she was just a hair's breadth outside its confines. She looked up at her stepfather then.

"...Dad?" She sounded small then, even to herself, since something deep down told her that this was it, the point of no return. She didn't have a clue as to what all of this was about, but somehow, she knew. She'd bet her new periwinkle ballgown on it.

"Please sweetheart" he implored gently, summoning up enough fatherly affection in his gaze to propel her the last two steps.

For a moment, they all held their breath, waiting to see what would happen. The rune did not disappoint. It started slowly. The slight golden glow of the circle pulsed. Once. Twice. Then, it started becoming brighter, and as it did, the color purified into a white luminescence.

Roland sighed to himself in relief. " I guess it might have been completely unrelated, I was probably just overthink…" he started, but never got to finish as the shade of light morphed into a beautiful purple, as lovely as any lilac in spring.

From there the color changed again, this time the transition picking up speed as the quantity of light being emitted by the spell ramped up as well. Blue, dark green, lighter green, yellow, orange, red, the colors shifted by until at last, it settled on a dazzling deep golden hue.

A choked sound came from the sorcerer as what the spell was telling them truly registered in his mind.

The king, wide eyed and staring at his glowing little princess, slowly opened his mouth and uttered "Oh dear".


	2. Explanations

Important: Please go back and read chapter one if you followed this story a little while ago. I re-wrote the first chapter entirely. As I fleshed out the story, the beginning I had originally written no longer corresponded fully with the plot.

Thank you for the wait! I'd love to hear what you guys think so far. I find dialogue very difficult to write, so I hope I didn't botch it up too badly ^_^' Still un-beta'd, so I apologize for any errors!

Not mine, just playing around with Disney's characters

Finally, unable to stand their stunned expressions any longer, Sofia stepped quickly out of the whirling vortex of shimmery light. The king's dismay was still plenty apparent as the glow slowly diminished into nonexistence, as was Cedric's utter shock from this turn of events.

If someone had told him this morning that by nightfall he'd discover that Sofia registered as a nine on the Orenda-Scale, he'd have thought he'd accidentally ingested monkwart again. Come to think of it, maybe this whole thing was a hallucination. The sorcerer subtly pinched himself, and came to the conclusion that despite his use of the fungi in his potioneering earlier that day, he unfortunately was not being adversely affected at the moment.

His confused frown deepened further as he turned back to his silent and solemn employer. Seeing no more comments from the stunned man forthcoming, Cedric took the opportunity to angle himself back towards Sofia. He could tell that their reactions were frightening the poor girl; one had but to glance at her to see it written all over her face and posture.

In a flash, a decision was made, and the sorcerer approached his student softly, trying to school his features into a semblance of calm and reassurance.

"Sofia… I…" he fumbled for a moment, looking for the right words, " I never knew you were so… gifted."

"...Gifted? Gifted at what? Please , could you tell me about what just happened? About why you two look so… so _afraid _of me?". She peeked around Cedric to her stepfather, addressing her next question to him.

"Is this because of the sparks?" She fluttered her hands around herself slightly as she said this, trying to get him to understand what she was referring to.

Cedric raised an eyebrow at the king, hoping he would understand better than he did what she was hinting at.

Roland seemed to snap out of his daze then, as he registered the gesture, and came to kneel in front of her as he responded the affirmative.

She looked down for a moment, trying to understand how her actions earlier in the day could have lead to this situation. Before she could summon up an explanation, one came from the king as he gently placed a few fingers under her chin and brought her gaze up to his.

Shedding the remnants of panic and distress that he had been wearing on his visage mere moments ago, Roland summoned up his most regal voice, the one he used for serious matters, and started.

"Sofia, what you did earlier today, when you got excited about the responsibilities your mother and I gave you for the upcoming ball… most people can't just do something like that, especially not without a wand. Did you already know that you have such a high level of innate magic?"

The princess shook her head quickly, eyes wide. "Why is it so high father? I don't understand. What's wrong with me?"

"I thought as much, given your reaction. Don't worry my dear, we're going to find out." He turned abruptly to Cedric after having stood. Where is your copy of Enchancia's Specularforma? Fetch it here."

At this command, Cedric did a series of movements with his wand and summoned a large tome. It had a pearly white cover and sported elegant golden engravings. The book settled on a nearby worktable with a thud, and another flick of his wand had the tome open, and pages flicking past at lightning speed. Once a page was settled on, the sorcerer quickly skimmed the names, having already guessed the monarch's intent.

A moment later, the search was over. Underlined by his finger, Cedric tilted the book so that Roland could see what he'd been hoping to find. Twin expressions of confusion graced their faces, as what was written by Sofia's name didn't make any sense. According to the records, she was only supposed to be a three.

The king seemed to think for a moment, staring at Sofia as if focusing on her long enough would magically summon the explanation he seeked. He then faced his court sorcerer swiftly. "I am going to see if my Queen has returned from her outing, and get some much needed answers. In the meantime, Cedric, I am entrusting you with Sofia's welfare. Do be sure to keep her entertained until I or Miranda return."

He pulled Cedric aside then, as he was going to exit the tower, and said lowly "Do not let her leave before I come back."

With that, the monarch was gone, leaving a slightly unnerved wizard and frightened girl in his wake.

For long moments after the slam of the door echoed, the silence grew to have its own weight, pressing down on the room's occupants until they allowed themselves to bend under it, just a little. Fear and confusion causing shoulders to hunch, and brows to furrow in deep thought.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Cedric remembered that he was the adult in this situation, and that he should take charge and give Sofia something to focus on. No point in them both dwelling on the evening's events in silence.

Twisting away from where he was still facing the door, he flicked his wand forward and brought out Sofia's favorite workbench, along with a little side-table he kept tucked away for her little visits. The Specualrforma went whizzing back to its snug location amongst several other large magical tomes, high up on a shelf.

He often amused himself by giving Sofia little tasks to perform at her 'station' whenever she came knocking on his door; it was a way to keep her out of his frequently hazardous workspace, and useful at the same time.

Eventually, after many a visit, those social calls came to be concluded amicably by her making a cup of tea for them both to share before she'd amble on out of his domaine to rejoin the rest of the world, and thus continue doing whatever it was that little princesses did there.

His current actions were deemed successful once he caught a glimpse of the small smile that graced her features. Getting swept up into the soothing ritual of their little routine, she pulled her wand out of it's case, thankfully nestled under the worktable she was pressed up against, and set out to assemble a tea set.

With that, Cedric could see the last of the tension bleed out of the young girl's shoulders, and gave himself a mental pat on the back for nudging her out of the uncharacteristic funk she'd found herself in. If there was one universal constant to the world, it was Sofia's ability to smile through almost anything and remain buoyantly chipper.

Of course, that trait usually aggravated the man to no end.

"Here you go " she said as she presented him with a steaming cup of earl grey tea. Plain, just how he liked it.

Once they were both seated, and gently arranged to their comfort, the sorcerer began to touch back on the delicate subject of the evening's occurrences.

"You must have some questions girl" he stated bluntly after tapping the tip of his wand on the rim of her cup, muting the torrent of steam that had been emerging. She glanced up to give him a nod of thanks before gazing back into the milky grey depths of her teacup. At her continued silence, he gave her a pointed look.

"Well? I'm not going to be at your beck and call all night, so you might as well ask away whilst I'm forced to sit here and listen to your babbling" he proclaimed, back to speaking in his usual aloof and grouchy manner.

He was hardly afraid of upsetting her; he knew that she, for whatever reason, seemed to find his prickly manner endearing. Good gracious but children were odd that way.

Over the rim of his cup, he noticed that Sofia seemed to be uncharacteristically struggling to voice her thoughts. Finally, she looked up at him and shrugged delicately, looking a little lost. "I'm honestly not sure what to ask, . It all happened so quickly. I could tell by how father reacted earlier today that I might have done something a little… _strange_, but I didn't want it to happen. It just sort of did."

"Yes… I keep hearing about this... _event_, from the two of you. Something about sparks, I believe it was?". At her nod, he continued. "Could you describe to me what happened this afternoon, princess?" His interest was fully peaked now, since he was fairly certain after the results of the Orenda-Scale that he was going to be hearing about her first _manifestation_.

"Well, I was summoned by the castle courier to my father's study. Once I arrived, father told me that I was going to have the honor of coming up with an activity to perform with our guests at our next ball, being held in a fortnight." Her smile grew in size, and her eyes sparkled with remembered enthusiasm.

"I was so please that he was letting me participate that I sort of… well I… I'm not really sure what happened." A frown replaced her smile as she endeavored to depict something she did not fully comprehend. "I felt that I could simply burst with happiness. Suddenly, there were sparks all around me, flashing and twinkling, like tiny fireworks! But I don't understand why, since I didn't have a wand, or even cast a spell. Do you have an answer ? Father looked very startled afterwards, and sent me away after telling me not to tell anyone… even you or Amber or mother." Her troubled expression seemed to lift a little as she quirked a half smile at her mentor. "I guess I can tell _you_ now though."

How odd it was that she did not grasp the significance of that moment in the study. He remembered well his first manifestation, as if it were yesterday, and the pleasure he had felt knowing that he too would carry on his family's tradition of serving in the Alliance. It should not have mattered to him so much, since his partnership in the Alliance was secured at his birth, but it was a special moment nonetheless. A bit of proof, if you will.

"Do you not know about the laws and traditions that make up our kingdom?"

Startled by this non sequitur, Sofia was suddenly nervous that she had missed something important in her classes. She knew that Cedric was likely to chastise her firmly if he thought that she hadn't been paying attention properly. She responded cautiously.

"There are quite a few, so I'm not really sure which ones you're talking about?"

He rolled his eyes as he shook his head in exasperation. "Think girl, what has been the theme of tonight's little development, hmm?" He brought up his wand for emphasis as he spoke. "Magic. Laws and traditions pertaining to magic."

The princess thought it over for a moment. "I don't really think so , and I promise that I have been listening well. I remember Fairy Merriweather said something about starting Law, Customs, and World History courses next year."

"Allanon above" the sorcerer muttered, mostly to himself, before continuing. "All right, allow me to expand your knowledge on the subject. What you have experienced today, princess Sofia, is your first manifestation. It is a high honor to be born with enough magic to even create them. It's honestly a wonder that you haven't manifested before now, given the sheer level of power you actually hold. You see..." Cedric got up to pace around the circular room as he started his small, impromptu lecture.

"Most individuals tend to score anywhere between a one and a three on the Orenda-Scale, perhaps a four if they're unusually gifted." Before the man could go any farther in his schooling, Sofia cut him off with a quick question.

"I keep hearing about this... this _scale_. I want to know what that is. It's the light circle from earlier, right?"

He gave her a small glare as a warning to refrain from interrupting in such a rude fashion again, but answered nonetheless.

"It is a tool used since the time of the Great Magical Conflict in all the kingdoms, to determine as early as birth the power of an individual's intate magic. Each color you saw during the span the spell was active corresponds to a level."

"Oh, that's really interesting! What color are you then ?" She looked at him eagerly, happy to share in a common experience with the taciturn man.

Having stopped near Wormwood's perch sometime during his discourse, Cedric stroked his companion's feathers absent-mindedly. Deciding to amuse the princess, the sorcerer gave his answer by shifting the bird's feathers from its usual ebony black to a rather alarming shade of pumpkin orange. Noticing the sudden change, Wormwood squaked in indignation whilst the room's two other occupants shared in a chuckle at his expense.

"Tell him to shift me back this instant." Glared the feathered creature, making it obvious who he thought was really to blame for the situation.

Suppressing another round of giggles Sofia dutifully mentioned " I don't think he likes that very much . Besides, I think his usual color suits you both much better."

Change administered, Cedric fixed them both another cup of tea before resuming.

"Orange is fairly high on the scale. It corresponds to a seven." His posture straightened just a little bit more upon this pronouncement, pride evident in his expression. His gaze slid back to his pupil from where it had been staring off into the distance.

"The stronger your magic, however, the more dangerous you are to those around you in your youth." The seriousness of this statement made Sofia's eyes go saucer wide.

"But I would never hurt anyone!" she cried.

"Ah, but what you want is rarely a part of the equation when it comes to magic. Especially powerful magic. Did you _want_ to cause sparks to fly and shoot forth earlier? No, not intentionally you didn't. This is one of the things that concerns the king and I both."

"One of the things?" Sofia reeled at the news that she might actually pose a danger to anyone. "There's more?"

Cedric sighed wearily. "I don't know if I should be telling you this, but I've always found that ignorance is seldom bliss when it comes to all things magical. Ever since the era when the Alliance was formed, and order was reestablished in our world... rulers of all kingdoms were specifically forbidden to have an innate magical ability above a three."

Sofia's eyes seemed to get impossibly wider.

"The most important thing that I don't understand though, and what the king is most likely trying to determine, is how it came to be that your log in the Specularforma is so inaccurate."

"Is that the book that I saw earlier?" she queeried, peering curiously back up to the shelf where the tome in question sat innocently.

"Yes, the Specularforma is one of many of the same codexes kept all over the various towns of the kingdom. Each of the Alliance's offices carries one, by law. Each kingdom has its own. What makes it so special is that whatever is written in one, all the others share it. Each book is identical, the moment pen is put to paper. The Specularforma is used by the town's Alliance sorcerer or sorceress to catalogue a newborn's name and magical ability."

"But why? Why have one at all? Why does it matter how magical you are?"

Cedric seemed exasperated with her again. "Have you not been listening, child? You are technically a danger to others and even potentially yourself. You're in dire need of a Magaei-la. That's why we do this, to keep magic users _and_ innocents safe. Once your magical level has been established, the Alliance keeps an eye on you until your sixth year of age. That's when representatives come and take you to the Dominion, to be trained and monitored until you grow safely into your power… it usually stabilizes by your eighteenth year of age." He didn't seem to notice the outright alarm that bloomed on her countenance at this explanation.

"You mean… I'll be taken? Taken away from here?"

"Most definitely. Someone of your power has not been seen in quite a few decades. They'll want to get you trained as soon as possible."

That's when panic set in.


End file.
